D U E S
by Happiness's Deceit
Summary: D U E S is a reality game that no one can beat.  Ryou Bakura, however, doesn't want to.  He just wants to meet the people behind those he plays with as Bakura the Thief King.  Too bad he didn't expect to fall in love.


_Yu-Gi-Oh! does not belong to me in any way, but to the creators and publishers. I only own the story below. The elements used for the game are taken from a demo game a friend made for Technology class._

* * *

A silver-haired boy entered the small internet café, nodding to the lady at the desk. 

She knew who he was—everyone knew who he was, the tiny slip of a teenager that was always coming in.

He slipped into one of the more private booths, and was quick in logging in the computer. The computer was already on, and it was ready, the connection stable. He nodded once, and pulled a package out of his bag. It was a headset, that he plugged in.

It was then placed atop his eyes, obscuring his vision, and behind him, the door to the room automatically locked.

A screen came up. It was loading, a slim bar in the middle of the page. Then, it was black, and letter began to roll out in front of his eyes against the background.

* * *

**Welcome to ****D U E S.**

**Username: **_Bakura  
_**Type: **_Thief_

**Time of Last Logout**_: 12:03:56  
_**Place of Last Logout**_: Ustros_

**Enter?**

**( Yes ) ( No ) **

* * *

Pushing the button for 'yes', the world around him changed. Gone was the tiny room in the back corner of the café, gone was the darkness, and in its place was the grand world of _D U E S._

Black sand curled endlessly in ever direction, ominously warning travelers of dangers to come. But he moved forward, stepping lightly on the sand. This was his home.

Bakura was in the third world, _Ustros_, a deep, barren desert that spread as far as the eye could see. Most users who were unlucky enough to stumble into it had their characters decimated and had to reboot. But here, he lived and breathed—here was the place in this game that kept him the most at peace.

He moved lightly through the sand, watching for changes in the ground he had long memorized. When he saw none, Bakura shed the blood-red cloak he had been wearing and activated an item.

This time, the words materialized in front of him that circled him, waiting for him to answer the browser. Bakura clicked the screen, and a message appeared, creating a panel of light so it could be read.

**

* * *

**

**Use item **_mirror?_

**( Yes ) ( No ) **

* * *

Again pressing the affirmative, a full-length mirror materialized in front of him. He shed the dark, blood-red garment that he had arrived wearing and looked at himself in the mirror. 

The pale skin Bakura had now sported a dark tan, and his feminine countenance was replaced with hard, angular muscle. Only the snow white color of his hair remained the same, ends jagged and cut more harshly here in this world.

He frowned a little bit, then donned his cloak again. This time, he also took note of the items he had on him. It wasn't too bad—three _escapes_, one _knife_, one _rope, _his _warp key _and a—

Ooh. When had he gotten _that_?

Bakura pressed the last item into the confines of his cloak, patting the bulge it made in his pocket.

He could get anything else he needed on the way there.

_Time for a little game_.

Bakura tensed his feet, pushing them into the ground below him, and grasped the _warp key_. He needed to get to a place that was father than he would have liked, and though the _warp key_ promised 'infinite warps', it had the nasty effect of taking half of his life gauge with it.

He was floating in the black space again, this time as his counterpart, and bright, luminescent words appeared before him.

**

* * *

**

**You are attempting to warp into **_Erthath ._

**Continue?**

**( Yes ) ( No ) **

* * *

With a simple flick of his finger, the area around him turned a bright green. Replacing the dark sand and wide unknown was now a large city of gold. The air here was fresher, and the sand, here as well, was lighter, richer in minerals; he was in _Erthath_, the richest of the five worlds. It was here, too, that had the strongest semblance of a power-hungry ruler, so Bakura had no qualms about robbing here. It was what they deserved, he believed. 

He raised the hood on his cloak, stepping into the rich city of _Twena_, the capital of this blood-soaked land.

It seemed he had walked straight into a bazaar. People in cloaks of every color crowded the corners, trading items, and bargaining for more. Bakura stepped through the crowd, surreptitiously searching his peers' pockets.

Soon enough he was in the heart of the city, his item storage now full and it was time to deposit. Bakura grinned, and walked into a nearby alley, tapping lightly on a door he knew would open. It did without much protest.

But as he did so, another wall came up, and immediately Bakura moved back. It was a firewall-it seemed not everyone was going to be as easy to take advantage of as the fools on the street.

He rose a thin brow as a light letter began to circle his body, grasped the digital paper before it exploded into tiny particles, moving and rearranging itself until a message appeared on the screen. The message itself was uninteresting; the customary 'go away or give us the password' was included, but Bakura was more interested in the actual software of the letter.

After all, most users could send messages, but few could make it simultaneously with a wall. Nonetheless, Bakura deleted the message and touched the firewall. It had three layers of encryption codes, it seemed—but who would take that much effort?

Hmph.

Bakura slipped out the item he had wanted to use. The _Ring_. It was a rare item, one of a kind and part of a seven-piece set. He must have stolen it off a priest in an escapade into _D U E S, _but it was useful, for sure. It began to glow, and the spikes at the base of the necklace began to point towards the wall at an increasingly alarming rate. He stepped forward, and the Ring embedded itself into the wall.

Then numbers were spinning around him, and he concentrated, and they formed into a single message.

**

* * *

**

**You have activated the **_Ring_.  
**You have unlocked the door to** (_file cannot be found) _.

**Enter?**

**( Yes ) ( No ) **

* * *

Bakura's fingers itched to press 'yes', but he resisted as he took note of the time that was spinning around his left wrist. He would save nearby and try again next time. 

He jumped onto a nearby roof and initiated the logout sequence. It buzzed, and then he was in that black space again. The letters unfurled from nothingness, and soon, a new message appeared before him.

**

* * *

**

**You are leaving ****D U E S.**

**Username: **_Bakura  
_**Type: **_Thief_

**Time of Logout **_: 15:56:94  
_**Place of Logout**_: Erthath_

**Exit?**

**( Yes ) ( No ) **

* * *

He pressed the affirmative, and the world around him slowed, then a light _beep_ resounded in the pale room. 

Bakura was back in the corner room of the tiny café. He slipped off his head gear, unplugging it, and carefully placed it in his pack. Then he shouldered the pack, leaving the tiny room and then the café.

A cheerful wave, as well as a, "Bye Ryou!" followed him out.

_

* * *

_

_A boy appeared just as Bakura disappeared from the game._

_He touched the hole in the firewall, repairing it, and turned dull purple eyes on the place where the thief had been._

_Then, with a glance behind him, he exited the area, pulling a dusty black cloak around him._


End file.
